1967–1970
1967–1970, also known as the Blue Album, is a compilation album of songs by the English rock band the Beatles, spanning the years indicated in the title. A double LP, it was released with 1962–1966 in April 1973. 1967–1970 topped the Billboard albums chart in the United States and peaked at number 2 on the UK Albums Chart. It was re-released in September 1993 on CD, charting at number 4 in the United Kingdom.
The album was instigated by Apple Records manager Allen Klein during his final months before being dismissed from that position. As with 1962–1966, the compilation was created by Apple and EMI/Capitol Records in response to a bootleg collection titled Alpha Omega, which had been sold on television the previous year. Print advertising for the two records made a point of declaring them "the only collection of the Beatles". The success of the two official double LP compilations inspired Capitol's repackaging of the Beach Boys' 1960s hits, starting with the 1974 album Endless Summer.
A deluxe expanded version of the album was released on 10 November 2023, featuring the previously unreleased song "Now and Then", the final original single by the group. The deluxe edition features the album anniversary remix versions of the songs.
Album covers
For the group's 1963 debut LP Please Please Me, photographer Angus McBean took the distinctive colour photograph of the group looking down over the stairwell inside EMI House.In 1969, the Beatles asked McBean to recreate this shot. Although a photograph from the 1969 photo shoot was originally intended for the then-planned Get Back album, it was not used when that project saw eventual release in 1970 as Let It Be. Instead, another photograph from the 1969 shoot, along with an unused photograph from the 1963 photo shoot, was used for both this LP and 1962–1966.
The inner gatefold photo for both LPs has been attributed to both Stephen Goldblatt and Don McCullin, and is from the "Mad Day Out" photo session in London on Sunday 28 July 1968.
The album cover was designed by Tom Wilkes.
International versions
Unlike the 1962–1966 collection, the Blue Album was largely the same in the U.S. and the UK, although there were some variations.The U.S. edition had "Strawberry Fields Forever" in its original 1966 stereo mix, while "Penny Lane" and "Hello, Goodbye" were presented in mono, and "I Am the Walrus" with a four-beat electric piano introduction; the UK version had the more common six-beat beginning.
The albums had several other variants and anomalies. "Get Back" was described as the album version in the U.S. liner notes, although it was in fact the single version. In both countries, "Hey Jude" was around nine seconds shorter than it had been on the original single, although the full length was restored for the 1993 compact disc edition.
The original vinyl version faded in during the crowd noise at the beginning of "A Day in the Life". The fade in was different on both the UK and U.S. versions. The original compact disc edition, meanwhile, featured a clean version previously heard on the Imagine: John Lennon soundtrack album in 1988.
On the Spanish edition, "One After 909" replaced "The Ballad of John and Yoko", a song that had been banned from the airwaves shortly after being released as a single in 1969, for its allusions to "Christ" and "Gibraltar" in the lyrics.
Release variations
- Original 1973 UK release: Apple PCSP 7181-2
- Original 1973 US release: Apple SKBO-3404
- Second 1976 US pressing: Capitol SKBO-3404
- 1978 first US blue vinyl release: Capitol SEBX-11843
- 1980 East German release. Amiga 8 55 742. One disc only with 14 tracks, mostly from disc 1 of the original version.
- 1993 CD release. Apple 0777 7 97039 2 0
- 2010 remastered CD release. Apple 5099990674723
2023 remixed editions
The nine additional tracks are: "Within You Without You", "Dear Prudence", "Glass Onion", "Blackbird", "Hey Bulldog", "Oh! Darling", "I Want You ", "I Me Mine", and "Now and Then".
Six tracks received new stereo mixes for this release. The stereo mixes for the remaining tracks were sourced from those created for the following previously released album reissues: 1, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band: 50th Anniversary Edition, The Beatles: 50th Anniversary Edition, Abbey Road: 50th Anniversary Edition, and Let It Be: Special Edition. The album is also available in Dolby Atmos surround sound. On the CD and digital editions, the additional tracks are inserted into the track list in chronological order of each track's original issue, while on the vinyl edition, the first two LPs retain the track list of the 1973 release, with the additional tracks placed on a third LP. The vinyl edition come in both standard and coloured vinyl with each compilation's respective colours.
Of note, both "A Day in the Life" and "Dear Prudence" feature clean openings on the 2023 release, as opposed to their album counterparts, which are crossfaded with their respective preceding tracks. The dialogue introduction previously added to the 2021 Mix of "Don't Let Me Down" for Let It Be: Special Edition has also been removed.
Track listing
- The singles "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Penny Lane", "Hello, Goodbye", "Lady Madonna", "Hey Jude" and "The Ballad of John and Yoko", the B-sides "I Am the Walrus", "Revolution", "Don't Let Me Down" and "Old Brown Shoe", and the single versions of "Get Back" and "Let It Be" make their global album debut in this compilation.
Charts
Weekly charts
Original release| Chart | Peak position |
| Australian Kent Music Report | 11 |
| Austrian Albums Chart | 1 |
| Canadian RPM Albums Chart | 3 |
| Dutch Mega Albums Chart | 2 |
| Finnish Albums | 4 |
| Italian M&D Albums Chart | 10 |
| Japanese Oricon LPs Chart | 2 |
| Norwegian VG-lista Albums Chart | 2 |
| Spanish Albums Chart | 1 |
| UK Albums Chart | 2 |
| US Billboard Top LPs & Tape | 1 |
| West German Media Control Albums Chart | 2 |
1993 reissue
| Chart | Peak position |
| Australian Albums Chart | 8 |
| Austrian Albums Chart | 3 |
| Belgian Albums Chart | 46 |
| Canadian RPM Albums Chart | 11 |
| Dutch Albums Chart | 3 |
| Italian M&D Albums Chart | 18 |
| Japanese Albums Chart | 5 |
| New Zealand Albums Chart | 4 |
| Norwegian Albums Chart | 8 |
| Swedish Albums Chart | 23 |
| Swiss Albums Chart | 3 |
| UK Albums Chart | 4 |
| US Billboard Top Pop Catalog | 1 |
2010 reissue
| Chart | Peak position |
| Austrian Albums Chart | 65 |
| Belgian Albums Chart | 30 |
| Belgian Albums Chart | 56 |
| Danish Albums Chart | 23 |
| Dutch Mega Albums Chart | 55 |
| German Albums Chart | 71 |
| Japanese Albums Chart | 3 |
| Spanish Albums Chart | 19 |
| Swedish Albums Chart | 17 |
| Swiss Albums Chart | 47 |
| UK Albums Chart | 4 |
| US Billboard 200 | 29 |
| US Billboard Catalog Albums Chart | 1 |
| Chart | Peak position |
| Australian Albums | 8 |
| Finnish Albums | 50 |
| Greek Albums | 4 |
| Hungarian Physical Albums | 31 |
| Italian Albums | 18 |
| Japanese Combined Albums | 6 |
| Japanese Hot Albums | 6 |
| New Zealand Albums | 12 |
| Swedish Albums | 48 |